A history of the American nation . ate ones, filled with copies of the classics of the time. TheUniversity of Pennsylvania was already founded and was in aflourishing condition. Of all the northern coloniesNew York had the nearest ap-proach to an aristoc-racy. There was aclass of great land-holders possessed of vast estates,who towered above their of the estates had been es-tablished in Dutch times, and someof their holders were descendantsof men upon whom the old WestIndia Company had lavished itsgrants. In New York City therewTre dignified Dutch merchantsand ship owners; and t


A history of the American nation . ate ones, filled with copies of the classics of the time. TheUniversity of Pennsylvania was already founded and was in aflourishing condition. Of all the northern coloniesNew York had the nearest ap-proach to an aristoc-racy. There was aclass of great land-holders possessed of vast estates,who towered above their of the estates had been es-tablished in Dutch times, and someof their holders were descendantsof men upon whom the old WestIndia Company had lavished itsgrants. In New York City therewTre dignified Dutch merchantsand ship owners; and there wereEnglishmen and men of other na- ^ Several of the men who formed the Constitution of the United Stateswere Princeton men—Paterson, Madison, Luther Martin, Ellsworth; someof them, it is interesting to notice, belonged to the same society in col-lege—a literary society!—the Cliosophic Society, which means, I sup-pose, a society wise in history, since Clio is the muse of that noble branchof learning. New Yorkaristocracy. 126 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION tionalities who, possessed of some wealth—as wealth wascounted in those simple days—held places of more or lesssocial distinction; but the land was largely made up of farmersand fur-traders with a few artisans and small tradesmen. In Pennsylvania, save in the Quaker City, where there wasa good deal of luxury among the descendants of the earlysettlers, the people ^-ved simply. In Pennsyl-PeMsivaLa^ vania, said Albert Gallatin at a later day, notonly we have neither Livingstons nor Rensselaers,^but from the suburbs of Philadelphia to the Ohio I do notknow a single family that has any extensive influence. An equal distribution of prop-erty has rendered everyindividual independent,and there is among ustrue and real people were sober-minded and other colonies werehasty, Pennsylvania wasdeliberate. To the morefiery colonies of the Southand North she seemed attimes phlegmatic and de-void of


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